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Commit To Purchase Chart Industries At $105, Earn 11.6% Annualized

Investors eyeing a purchase of Chart Industries Inc shares, but cautious about paying the going market price of $123.93/share, might benefit from considering selling puts among the alternative strategies at their disposal. One interesting put contract in particular, is the March 2014 put at the $105 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of $5.40.

Investors eyeing a purchase of Chart Industries Inc ( GTLS) shares, but cautious about paying the going market price of $123.93/share, might benefit from considering selling puts among the alternative strategies at their disposal. One interesting put contract in particular, is the March 2014 put at the $105 strike, which has a bid at the time of this writing of $5.40. Collecting that bid as the premium represents a 5.1% return against the $105 commitment, or a 11.6% annualized rate of return (at Stock Options Channel we call this the YieldBoost).

Selling a put does not give an investor access to GTLS's upside potential the way owning shares would, because the put seller only ends up owning shares in the scenario where the contract is exercised. And the person on the other side of the contract would only benefit from exercising at the $105 strike if doing so produced a better outcome than selling at the going market price. ( Do options carry counterparty risk? This and six other common options myths debunked). So unless Chart Industries Inc sees its shares decline 14.9% and the contract is exercised (resulting in a cost basis of $99.60 per share before broker commissions, subtracting the $5.40 from $105), the only upside to the put seller is from collecting that premium for the 11.6% annualized rate of return.

Below is a chart showing the trailing twelve month trading history for Chart Industries Inc, and highlighting in green where the $105 strike is located relative to that history:

The chart above, and the stock's historical volatility, can be a helpful guide in combination with fundamental analysis to judge whether selling the March 2014 put at the $105 strike for the 11.6% annualized rate of return represents good reward for the risks. We calculate the trailing twelve month volatility for Chart Industries Inc (considering the last 250 trading day closing values as well as today's price of $123.93) to be 35%. For other put options contract ideas at the various different available expirations, visit the GTLS Stock Options page of StockOptionsChannel.com.